A few days ago, I asked you: what is the one question you want me to ask world leaders?

It was a few hours before a key moment for the campaign to fund education – the Global Partnership for Education’s replenishment conference in Dakar, Senegal, where I was going to deliver the keynote speech.

And you were clear that the biggest question of the moment was: what will you do to turn the decline in education financing around and ensure that every child can realise their right to education?

To be honest, when I sent you that email, I was feeling a bit sceptical. For years aid to education has been stagnating or going down. I’ve spoken at big events before.

When the US Congress fails to pass appropriate funding for government operations and agencies, a shutdown is triggered. Most government services are frozen, barring those that are deemed “essential”, such as the work of the Department of Homeland Security and FBI.

During a shutdown, nearly 40% of the government workforce is placed on unpaid furlough and told not to work. Many, but not all, are non-defense federal employees. Active duty military personnel are not furloughed.

Zannah Mustapha has helped to transform the lives of children affected by Boko Haram in Nigeria. He founded two schools that offer free education, meals and healthcare to orphans – and even the children of Boko Haram fighters. The lawyer also played a key role in negotiations to free more than 100 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. Now his inspiring work has won the UN’s 2017 Nansen Refugee Award. Take a bow, sir. (credit: theirworld.org)

The European Union approved a range of new projects worth more than $310 million to support refugees and their overstretched host communities. It includes more than $100 million of help for education in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan (June’17).

Seven years after sparking the Arab spring, Tunisians are back on the streets to protest against a new finance law. The law took effect on January 1st and has caused widespread price hikes. The government claims that it had no choice: it must bring the deficit down to honour a deal with the International Monetary Fund. This has not assuaged Tunisians, who are frustrated by a stagnant economy. Worse, they are in for more austerity

Though there has been progress, gender equality is still a long way off. That is the key message in our latest report, The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle, released 4 October. As I write in this OECD Observer article, policies are changing for the better, but much more improvement is needed to close gender gaps in all areas of social and economic life. No country is immune. The challenges are varied: more women should be encouraged to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), for instance, and more men should be encouraged to do their fair share of unpaid care-giving. Women should be better represented as entrepreneurs, in public life, and at the highest levels of the private sector.

Middle English parlai speech, probably from Middle French parlee, from Medieval Latin parabolare, from Late Latin parabola speech, parable

First Known Use: 1580*

“Parley” is a discussion or conference, especially one between enemies over terms of a truce or points in dispute or other matters; mutual discourse.

The root of the word parley is parler, which is the French verb “to speak”.

Beginning in the High Middle Ages with the expansion of monarchs, a parley, or “talk”, was a meeting held between kings and their Chief Retainers. Parleys were part of the many changes in Europe, especially regarding governments. These meetings can be attributed to the formation of parliaments, which are derived from a similar root, parliamentum, simply meaning “talking”.**

Act V Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Drum. Enter BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and their Army; LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, and others
BRUTUS: They stand, and would have parley.